Welcome
by whatanauthorsgottado
Summary: Such a lovely place... Anubin and Marr needed a place to stay the night, and this was better than sleeping in the car. Hotel California AU. Oneshot.


It was hard for Anubin to believe how dark it was getting. Spending his whole life in the city meant that there had always been some form of light, whether it was the neon signs lining the streets or the streetlamps guiding the way home.

Out here in the desert, there was no such thing. The sunset now a few minutes behind them, the only forms of light were the headlights of the car and the field of stars above them. It was a fair amount of light, but not enough for Anubin to drive comfortably by for a long time.

"We should find a place to pull over. It's getting very difficult to see at all."

"I hadn't noticed."

He felt like planting his face into the steering wheel. Of course Marr wouldn't have noticed, given that he was blind, which Anubin always seemed to manage to forget when it came to saying anything important.

"Well, those of us who can have noticed."

"So pull over. I see no issue here."

"I might be able to sleep in the car, but I think it might be very uncomfortable for you. And besides, we came out here to enjoy ourselves together, not to have to sleep in cramped conditions."

"You may continue driving if you wish, in that case. I believe you said it was too difficult to drive in the dark, however."

Anubin sighed and focused back on the road ahead. "Thank you for your input, Mathias."

He couldn't win with his husband sometimes.

Anubin suddenly squinted into the distance. "Wait... I think I see something. It looks like a light."

And so it was. Likely about a mile or so off was a small dot of pink light that resolved itself into a flickering motel sign as they drew closer. The sign, which was a pink that had likely been more vivid in days long past, announced that the place was known as the Hotel California, and that there was a vacancy.

"There's a motel sign up ahead. What do you think?"

"Anything is better than being forced to sleep in the car."

Anubin pulled into the parking lot and shut off the car, pulling the hood up for the night in case of rain or – more likely – burglary. He and Marr stepped out of the car and into the motel.

The lobby was clean, if a little cramped and decorated out of style with mismatched chairs and formica tables that had seen better days. A woman who appeared both old and young sat slightly slouched in a chair behind the desk, as though she had been about to nod off. With the entrance of the two travellers, howvere, she looked up and smiled.

"Welcome to the Hotel California," she said. Anubin loved her voice on first hearing; in fact, he was quite smitten with the woman entirely. A quick glance at Marr revealed nearly nothing; however, he and Anubin had been together long enough for Anubin to see that he, too, enjoyed the sound of her voice. "Would you like separate rooms?"

"One room, with as large a bed as possible," Anubin said with a wink. He approached the desk, subtly pulling Marr with him. He could hear, just at the edge of hearing, the older man clicking his tongue – using the echolocation tactic that he was so good at to sound out the room.

The woman at the desk – Satele, according to her nametag – wasn't affected, or if she was, she did a remarkably good job of not showing it. "A queen room, then." She handed Anubin a key with a card hanging from a metal ring, indicating the room's number. "You'll be in room 113. It's just down the hall to the left."

"Thank you very much," Anubin said, following Marr down the hall to their room. Once inside, the two took to bed to enjoy their night together, as promised. Neither noticed the whispering coming from down the hall.

The next day, Anubin woke to the sound of the shower running. He stretched, rolling into the still-warm indent Marr's body had left in the mattress, and nearly fell asleep.

"Get up," came Marr's voice from above him. Anubin woke to find his husband towering over him, looking grim as usual – it was just his default expression, and Anubin knew Marr wasn't really angry, but damned if it didn't send a shiver through him at times. Of course, it was usually a rather pleasant shiver.

"Hmm," was Anubin's brilliant reply. "If I get up, how can I convince you to join me in bed again?"

"As if you could," Marr rumbled, but allowed himself to be pulled back down into bed.

Some time later, Anubin came out of the shower, clean and ready to face a new day.

"What should we do, do you think?" he asked Marr, who was seated rather gingerly in the rickety wicker desk chair beside the window. "Should we stay here for a while, or move along?"

"You may decide. It matters little to me either way."

"Then let's stay a while. I'd like to get to know Satele – the woman at the desk – rather better, after all..."

"As would I."

Together, they left the room and headed back down the hall to the front desk. Unsurprisingly, Satele was not at the desk. Instead there stood a dark-haired man whose name tag read Orgus.

"Excuse me," Anubin began. "Would you happen to know where Satele could be found?"

"She's usually out back in the courtyard around now," was the reply. "What do you need?"

"Nothing in particular, just curious. Thank you for your help."

Marr and Anubin wandered out to the courtyard, where they found Satele, seated in the sunshine with her eyes closed. She opened them as the two entered the courtyard, turning her head slightly in their direction.

"I'm meditating," she said in answer to their unspoken question. "I find it relaxing."

"Maybe I'll join you," Anubin said, seating himself in front of Satele and slightly to her right. Marr sat beside him, forming a triangle between the three of them.

"Oh... alright. It's not often that guests join me – most prefer to dance." She indicated the group dancing across the courtyard, their music – a lively instrumental piece Anubin couldn't place, but which sounded almost familiar – wafting gently over to the three.

"Never mind them. We're here. So what do we do?"

"Close your eyes, to start. Then simply feel... Feel the wind, the sunshine, your breath flowing in and out of your lungs..."

Anubin closed his eyes and allowed the sensations she described to wash over him, replacing thought and feeling. He could almost feel Marr and Satele beside him, a whisper on the edge of hearing.

Speaking of whispers... "Does anyone hear that?" He asked, his eyes snapping open.

Marr nodded. Satele inclined her head. "Some guests say they hear whispering sometimes. Is that what you're referring to?"

"Yes." He turned to Marr. "Your hearing is better than mine; can you hear what they're saying?"

Marr turned his head slightly. "Welcome... Such a lovely place... Such lovely new guests... It is difficult to make out."

Satele looked at Marr with an expression akin to one who had just seen a ghost. "You can..." Her face steeled back into a mask of calm, though Anubin didn't miss the fear in her eyes. "It is best ignored, I think. Let's just go back to meditating."

Throughout the day, as Anubin and Marr continued about their wanderings through the hotel, Anubin couldn't help but think of the way Satele had looked at Marr. That fear in her eyes... it stuck with him and bothered him all day.

He wasn't altogether surprised when Satele knocked on their door that night. He allowed her entrance.

She sat in the desk chair and looked at them very closely. "Who are you?"

"My name is Anubin, and this is Mathias, my husband. We're simply a vacationing couple who stumbled upon this hotel in the middle of the night, hoping for a room for the night." Anubin fixed her with a look equally as penetrating as her own. "Who are you?"

"I am the manager of the Hotel California. I'm... just a woman running a hotel in the desert. Just -"

Anubin had heard enough. He stepped forward and leaned down to press his lips to hers. Her lips were soft, though slightly chapped, and she responded to his kiss by first freezing, then returning it with such fervor Anubin was almost surprised. He pulled her back with him onto the bed so she was lying on top of him.

After a short period of hesitancy, the three enjoyed the night getting to know each other very well.

Satele continued, over the next few nights, to join them in their room, which the twto travellers enjoyed immensely. It felt to all three of them – as far as they could tell with Satele, who was hesitant to discuss her thoughts and feelings – as though they were meant to be together.

Often, Satele seemed to want to say something, but held herself back, so in order to relax her, one night Anubin ordered two bottles of wine and three glasses to their room with which to ply her. Instead, there arrived two bottles of cheap champagne. When Anubin asked, the server explained that they had no wine and hadn't for many years.

"A hotel without wine?" he remarked to Marr, who shrugged.

That evening, as the sunset lit up the ceiling of the room, the three enjoyed the champagne together. After several glasses, Anubin figured Satele was probably relaxed enough to mention what was on her mind.

"Satele, you seem distracted. Is there something wrong?"

"No. What do you mean?"

"You just seem... distant."

"If there is something wrong," Marr murmured, laying a hand on her arm in an uncharacteristic gesture of affection, "tell us. We will not be bothered."

"I-" She cut herself off and sighed, finishing the last of her glass. She held it out to Anubin, who obliged her by refilling her glass. "It's the hotel..."

"What do you mean?"

"This place... I'm surprised you can't tell," she said to Marr, "with your excellent perception. This hotel is haunted."

Anubin had to stop himself from laughing. "That's all? A ghost story? That's what was bothering you?"

"Not a ghost story. A truth. In the manager's room... my room... there lives a great beast. It is the master of the hotel. It owns us all... the workers, the guests... No one who enters this cursed place can leave, by order of the beast."

"Show us," Marr said.

"No!"

"Why not? The worst that could happen is we get a little scare."

"The worst that could happen is being eaten. Generations of workers in this hotel have spent their time trying to kill the beast, but nothing we do has any effect. Our knives can't touch it, bullets pass right through..."

"Arm us," Anubin and Marr said in unison.

"I will not draw attention to you," Satele said severely. At that moment, a breeze passed through the room despite the closed door and window, shivering down their spines and whispering in your ears.

Satele went pale.

"It is too late to protect us, if what you say is true. Arm us and we will see about this beast."

Satele silently led them to the front desk, out from under which she took a rifle. This she handed to Anubin, who shook his head.

"I can shoot a pistol, but I have no experience with rifles."

She replaced the long gun and removed an old-fashioned revolver. Anubin checked to make sure there were bullets in it – it was fully loaded.

Satele also led them to a storeroom in which there were a few more weapons – another rifle, another revolver, some knives and a sword, all of which were sharp. Marr took the sword and hefted it.

"It will do," he said.

"Don't worry," Anubin reassured Satele, who was looking a little nervous. "Marr has extensive weapons training, and I know how to handle a pistol."

"I'm not worried about you using the weapons," she replied. "I'm more worried about how you'll fare against the beast."

"I can't follow you in," she said as they came to the door. "I cannot enter this room. If you decide to go in, you'll stand alone."

"Thank you for your help," Anubin said, pressing one last kiss to her lips. Marr did the same, pulling both of them into his arms. All three felt a sense of finality, as though something was to happen... an ending of some sort.

Anubin threw the door open and strode in with a sense of confidence he didn't feel, facing the great dark beast revealed when the door open with his gun cocked and aimed.

The beast let out a roar in their direction, standing from its place lounging against the wall. Anubin fired, missing its head by a small margin.

Marr stepped into the room from behind him and charged the beast. Anubin aimed high at the beast's great head, several feet above Marr's tall form. How it fit into the room, which was only a little higher in ceiling than their room, was a mystery, but Anubin ignored the thought and fired again.

The shot hit the beast, grazing the side of its head and causing it to look away from Marr to Anubin – which was its downfall, as Marr plunged his sword into its gut.

The beast let out a great roar and backhanded Marr away, throwing him into the wall. It pressed its great hand into it gut where the sword stuck out, opened its maw, and fell to the ground. It roared again.

Anubin stepped towards it, keeping his distance from his arms. Clearly, the beast was dying, but he wanted to finish the job. He aimed into its eye and pulled the trigger, quickly ending the beast's life.

Suddenly, the hotel shuddered around them, letting out a great sigh. Anubin pulled Marr to his feet and they dashed out of the room, nearly running into Satele in the hallway.

"You did it... you killed the beast," she said, but it sounded quiet and echoed, as though it was coming from a great distance away. As Anubin looked at her properly and found that she seemed to be fading.

"Satele! What's going on?" He reached for her hand and took it, but it didn't feel solid.

She smiled sadly, a tear falling from her eyes. "I'm following the hotel. I'm the manager, after all."

"Don't go!" Anubin tried to pull her, but was met with resistance he couldn't overcome. She released her hand from his and stepped away.

"I'm sorry... I love you both," she said as she faded further from sight.

" _Satele!_ "

Just as she disappeared from sight, so too did the hotel, leaving Anubin and Marr standing in the sand, some distance away from their car.

Anubin dropped to his knees in the sand, pressing his hands to the ground to support himself. He could feel the hot tears falling from his eyes, watering the ground that hadn't felt a drop of rain in likely as long as he'd been alive. The desert around them was just as it was when they'd been driving some days ago, looking for all the world like the Hotel California had never existed.

Marr placed his hands on Anubin's shoulders, only the tightness of his grip betraying his pain.

After a long silence, the two wordlessly stood and returned to their car, starting it up and pulling back out onto the highway, leaving the site of the Hotel Califonia behind.


End file.
